FREEPORT — The largest chemical complex in the Western Hemisphere resembles a city of pipes and stacks. And Dow Chemical, its owner, is spending more than $4 billion to make it even larger.

“In terms of dollars, this is the biggest expansion since we built the place,” said Earl Shipp, vice president for Dow’s Texas operations, who works out of the vast Freeport facility that dates to 1940.

More Texas chemical plants — a dozen, at least — are also moving forward with new projects. The hydraulic fracturing technology that sparked a drilling frenzy around Texas and the nation has proved a ...

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Comments (10)

Nothing about old school fossil fuels is sustainble except the misery of environmental destruction and health effects.

July 15, 2012 @ 9:06 a.m.

Papa Ray

Kim, do you work for the EPA or are you just one of the thousands of Enviro-Terrorists?

Fossil Fuels are here to stay for the next several centuries.

Wind, Solar and other green dreams are just that. Dreams. Perhaps in several decades or more they will be developed where they can supply the mega amounts of power that fossil fuels now provide cheaply. (Think for example, energy beamed down from collectors in space)

Until then we will just have to keep improving the production and uses of fossil fuels so that affordable power will be available to all humans.

J Sam that is a great article. Here is a quote from the article "Nonetheless, wind turbines do kill birds." Let me make sure, it is ok to kill birds with a wind turbine BUT if any bird is harmed by an oil spill it is cruel and the oil industry must shut down their wells.

To all you people who hate big oil companies, so this means you are going to voluntarily surrender the use your car, bicycle (people would amazed how much oil it takes to produce a bicycle), shampoo, makeup, smart phones, and any product produced from the agriculture sector? Or is this typical environmentalist hypocrisy, in which you guys say one thing, but do something else?

Freeport, Texas, located just southwest of Houston and Galveston, not really part of the OIL corridor in the Houston-Pasadena to the Louisiana border will grow more jobs for Texas. Dow Chemical gets the credit for jobs production or losses in Texas and not Rick Perry. The other chemical plants staging for improvements and growth will also produce jobs in America and not Rick Perry. Higher electricity rates should never have occurred as Texas has known for over ten years that Texas would have to comply with EPA Clean Air Act. And yet Texas allowed Coal burning plants to be built, when gas prices had and have been going down. Electric rates are based on gas rates and that has been going down. Rates should be going down. Rick Perry and the Pansy-Wansy Legislature have gone against the federal government as if they don't have any rights to have any say in the "Clean Air Act." Every TEA-Republican politician in Austin is culpable and responsible for this increase. Fire every TEA-Republican in Austin who voted to go against the federal government's "Clean Air Act." The coal plants that have gone up should be converted at the expense of the owners who knew better. Mark my words the TEA-Party is out to topple him. Their only intent is to elect TEA party enthusiast all around the nation. Do not stay home and hope he gets elected. Be part of it! If you stay home and don't get involved, America will surely suffer a grave consequence.

July 16, 2012 @ 9:21 a.m.

Samdavis

So how many wind turbines would it take to approach the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon environmental damage? It's one thing to be uninformed, entirely another to be willfully ignorant. Which are you?

We'll pay an enormous price for this boom. All the stats about Texas being good for business don't take into account that that wealth for a few comes at a huge human price. Businesses aren't coming to Texas just for the natural resources, they're relocating because our consumer protection is virtually non-existent thanks to decades of GOP control.

July 16, 2012 @ 10:16 a.m.

nick pell

Texans get the environment they want. Since most Texans can't see past their distended bellies, what difference does it make?